Seasonal Migration
The roads, the herds and the shepherds
"(...) Despite its rich landscape and glorious history, Beira Alta, in its most ancient and genuine essence, is mountain and crag; it is driven snow, which melts into torrent streams; it is dolmen and hillforts; and migrating shepherds who, from the bottom of the ages, guard and guide sheep (...)", Jaime Cortesão, "Portugal - The Land and the Man", 1996.
The roads, the herds and the shepherds
"(...) Despite its rich landscape and glorious history, Beira Alta, in its most ancient and genuine essence, is mountain and crag; it is driven snow, which melts into torrent streams; it is dolmen and hillforts; and migrating shepherds who, from the bottom of the ages, guard and guide sheep (...)", Jaime Cortesão, "Portugal - The Land and the Man", 1996.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the sheep from the terra chã (valleys) ascended in large herds the Serra da Estrela and to Montemuro from St John’s feast day (24 June) onwards, where they stayed until mid-August. In the remote mountains, shepherds stored their food in the “Arcas do Pão”, holes in the granite rocks, and spent the night in a choupana or under a “Lapa”, a large granite block, always next to the “bardo”, a mobile enclosure built with a net and stakes to guard the sheep.
Winter transhumance, known as the invernada, took place after the first snows appeared in late October or early November. From the cold lands of the Serra da Estrela to the warmer regions, the flat lands, the plains and the sheltered valleys, the paths travelled took different directions.
These transhumance routes, filled with sheep, shepherds and their dogs, often lasting more than three or four days, helped to develop a relationship of close complementarity between the mountains and the plains, creating a unique cultural and social movement in the region and in the country.
Today, after a few years in which there has been a reduction in seasonal migrations, there is once again a movement to energise the Transhumance Route. It aims to bring together more and more shepherds in search of the best grazing conditions for their sheep, but also to preserve a cultural and intangible wealth that sets shepherding and the Serra da Estrela region apart.
